Skip to content

Top Navigation

PEOPLE.com PEOPLE.com
  • News
    • Coronavirus
    • Crime
    • Human Interest
    • Politics
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Country
    • Awards
    • Sports
    • Theater
    • Books
  • Coronavirus
  • Royals
  • Lifestyle
    • Style
    • Fashion
    • Beauty
    • Health
    • Parents
    • Home
    • Real Estate
    • Pets
    • Food
    • Shopping
    • Tech
  • PeopleTV
  • Shopping
    • Coupons

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription

More

  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Premium
Login
Logout
Subscribe

Explore PEOPLE.com

PEOPLE.com PEOPLE.com
  • Explore

    Explore

    • Every Tiara Worn at a Royal Wedding

      From Princess Beatrice to Meghan Markle Read More Next
    • Engineer Creates App To Translate Your Cat

      Find out what your cat is trying to tell you with a new cat app Read More Next
    • The Sweetest Photos of Princes Harry with Diana

      Princess Diana died when Harry was just 12 years old Read More Next
  • News

    News

    See All News

    Sean Connery's Cause of Death Revealed Weeks After He Dies at Age 90

    Sean Connery died on Oct. 31 at age 90
    • Coronavirus
    • Crime
    • Human Interest
    • Politics
  • Entertainment

    Entertainment

    See All Entertainment

    Coyote Ugly Turns 20: Where Is the Cast Now?

    • Celebrity
    • TV
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Country
    • Awards
    • Sports
    • Theater
    • Books
  • Coronavirus
  • Royals
  • Lifestyle

    Lifestyle

    See All Lifestyle

    Introducing ... PEOPLE's Products Worth the Hype

    • Style
    • Fashion
    • Beauty
    • Health
    • Parents
    • Home
    • Real Estate
    • Pets
    • Food
    • Shopping
    • Tech
  • PeopleTV
  • Shopping

    Shopping

    • Coupons

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription

More

  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Premium
Login
Logout
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

People is on Community!
Text us for exclusive photos and videos, royal news, and way more.
Text: 212-479-1704
  1. People.com
  2. Royals
  3. 10 Tragic Royal Deaths That Shook the World

10 Tragic Royal Deaths That Shook the World

They may have palaces and titles, but royal families are hardly exempt from unspeakable tragedies. Here, a look at the early deaths of royals throughout history that had the world reeling
By Diana Pearl
August 24, 2017 09:16 AM
Skip gallery slides
FB Tweet

1 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

PRINCESS DIANA

Credit: TIM GRAHAM/Getty

The best known of contemporary history's untimely royal deaths, Diana, Princess of Wales was killed on August 31, 1997, after she was involved in a car accident in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris. The crash also killed Dodi Al Fayed, the man she was seeing at the time, and the car's inebriated driver, Henri Paul. After Diana was pronounced dead at a French hospital, her ex-husband, Prince Charles, traveled to bring her body home to London. She was 36 years old. There was an outpouring of mourning around the world, with flowers and tributes filling the grounds surrounding her London home, Kensington Palace. Her funeral was attended by 2,000 people and watched by two billion more at home on television.

1 of 10

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Credit: Sunset Boulevard/Corbis

PRINCESS GRACE

Fifteen years before Diana's death, another world-famous Princess, Grace of Monaco (also known as Hollywood actress Grace Kelly) died in a car crash at age 52. Grace was driving to Monaco from the family's country home, Roc Agel, with her daughter Princess Stéphanie when she had a minor stroke. The Philadelphia-raised beauty lost control of her car, driving off a 120 foot cliff. She was taken to the hospital, but her injuries were too devastating for her life to be saved. Stéphanie survived, though her own injuries prevented her from attending her mother's funeral.

2 of 10

3 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

PRINCE FRISO OF THE NETHERLANDS

Credit: RVD/Getty

The second son of Princess (formerly Queen) Beatrix of the Netherlands died tragically in 2013 after being in coma for more than a year. He fell into the coma after being buried by an avalanche while on a ski vacation in Lech, Austria, in 2012. Taken to a hospital in Innsbruck, the Netherlands Government Information Service gave the prognosis on his condition as "stable, but critical." He suffered brain damage in the accident, was eventually transferred to a London hospital, and then a royal palace at home in the Netherlands, just a month before his August 2013 death. His wife and mother had been with him everyday, but the brain damage he suffered during the accident was irreparable. Friso's death was announced on August 12. He was 44 years old.

3 of 10

Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

4 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

KING GEORGE VI

Credit: Underwood Archives/Getty

Queen Elizabeth has been on the throne for 65 years — and one of the reasons for her long reign (besides her own long life!) is the premature death of her father, King George VI, at age 56. The stress of World War II had a lasting impact on his health, and he smoked cigarettes for years, developing lung cancer and other health issues, particularly in his arteries. His elder daughter, then Princess Elizabeth, started taking on more and more of his duties as his health deteriorated. Eventually, he died in his sleep from a coronary thrombosis, a block of blood flow to the heart due to a blood clot in one of his arteries.

4 of 10

Advertisement

5 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

MARK SHAND

Credit: Helene Wiesenhaan/WireImage

Though not officially a royal, the freak accident that led to the death of Shand, the younger brother of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, is still worthy of mention. While Shand was in New York City in April 2014, he was celebrating after hosting an auction event for his charity, The Elephant Trust, when he fell and hit his head outside a hotel. His skull was unusually thin and therefore led to his death, according to a report done after his death, reported by The Telegraph. He was 62 years old.

5 of 10

6 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

LORD LOUIS MOUNTBATTEN

Credit: Walter Stoneman/Hulton Archive/Getty

An uncle of Prince Philip who served as a father figure to Philip's eldest son, Prince Charles, Mountbatten was killed in a terrorist attack while vacationing at Classiebawn Castle in Ireland. On August 27, 1979, he set off to go fishing off the coast of the Atlantic with one of his grandsons, Nicholas Knatchbull, and five others. A member of the Irish Republican Army, Thomas McMahon, had planted a bomb in the boat the night before, which exploded when they were just a few hundred yards from the shore. Mountbatten died shortly after.

6 of 10

Advertisement
Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

7 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

PRINCE GUSTAF ALDOF OF SWEDEN

Credit: IBL/REX/Shutterstock

Gustaf Adolf was the father of Sweden's current monarch, King Carl Gustaf. While traveling back to Stockholm on a commercial flight from the Netherlands in 1947, Gustaf Adolf was killed in a freak plane accident. His flight had made a routine stop in Copenhagen, and when the plane took off again for Stockholm it stalled and then dove head-first to the ground, exploding when it made contact. Gustaf Adolf and the other 21 people on board all died. He was 40 years old at the time of his death, and his son, Carl Gustaf, was only nine months old.

7 of 10

Advertisement
Advertisement

8 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

PRINCE GEORGE, DUKE OF KENT

Credit: Edward Gooch/Edward Gooch/Getty

The son of King George V and brother of King George VI died at age 39 when the seaplane he was flying in en route to Iceland crashed into the side of a hill in Scotland. The 13 other people on the plane died in the crash as well. He was on the plane as a part of his service with the Royal Air Force, and his death made him the first member of the royal family in 450 years to die during active military service.

8 of 10

Advertisement

9 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

PRINCESS MARINA, DUCHESS OF KENT

Though not quite as tragic as the death of her husband Prince George (a.k.a. the Duke of Kent), Marina's own came as quite a shock at age 61. She had first been admitted to the hospital on July 16, 1968, and her death came on August 27. Just hours before she died, Kensington Palace first announced that Marina's condition was "giving rise to anxiety." She died due to an inoperable brain tumor.

9 of 10

Advertisement
Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

10 of 10

FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

PRINCE WILLIAM OF GLOUCESTER

Credit: Lichfield/Getty

Queen Elizabeth's cousin, Prince William, died when he was 30 years old in a plane accident. William was a licensed pilot who owned several small planes, and as a hobby competed in air shows. It was this hobby that led to his death: In 1972, at the Goodyear International Air Trophy, his plane crashed and was set on fire, killing William and his co-pliot.

10 of 10

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Diana Pearl

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Trending Videos
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 10 PRINCESS DIANA
2 of 10
3 of 10 PRINCE FRISO OF THE NETHERLANDS
4 of 10 KING GEORGE VI
5 of 10 MARK SHAND
6 of 10 LORD LOUIS MOUNTBATTEN
7 of 10 PRINCE GUSTAF ALDOF OF SWEDEN
8 of 10 PRINCE GEORGE, DUKE OF KENT
9 of 10 PRINCESS MARINA, DUCHESS OF KENT
10 of 10 PRINCE WILLIAM OF GLOUCESTER

Share options

Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Login

PEOPLE.com

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
  • Advertise
  • Content Licensing
  • Sitemap
  • Student Offer this link opens in a new tab

Connect

People is on Community!
Text us for exclusive photos and videos, royal news, and way more.
Text: 212-479-1704
Newsletter Sign Up
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Cooking Light this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
  • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
  • Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People en Español this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Shape this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • Southern Living this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
  • Travel & Leisure this link opens in a new tab
© Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporationthis link opens in a new tab. People is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation All Rights Reserved. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab Manage Push Notificationsthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab

Manage Push Notifications

If you would like to opt out of browser push notifications, please refer to the following instructions specific to your device and browser: Google Chrome and Android, Firefox, Safari, or Microsoft Edge.
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://people.com

View image

10 Tragic Royal Deaths That Shook the World
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.